The Evolution of the Left Wing Role

There was a time where players hated playing out wide, with former Liverpool midfielder David Thompson regarding the role as the 'graveyard shift'. How the times have changed.

Since then, the winger has arguably gone on to become one of the most popular roles in modern football. What's not to love about the pacy, tricky dribbler, who can jink past defenders and produce a magical assist or goal that can get everyone out of their seat?

Yet it should be acknowledged that there's a lot more to the position that meets the eye. There's the balance between hugging the touchline or coming inward, given that full-backs are now asked to do a lot more going forward. Some managers want their wingers to remain high up the pitch for a counter-attack, while others ask for them to track back, to help their teammates defensively.

But despite the constant changes and evolution of the position, one thing has never changed: the expectation that the winger must create chances for his central colleagues.

Arguably the first successful formation to arise in football, the 2-3-5 prioritised the use of wingers as part of a dynamic five-man frontline. Most famously, it was used by Uruguay in their 1930 World Cup triumph, with Santos Iriarte the man tasked with making the left-flank his own in attack during the tournament.

Numerous great players would go on to excel in the position, including Arsenal's Cliff Bastin in Herbert Chapman's revolutionary W-M system, as well as Tom Finney who entertained many while playing for both Preston and England during the 1950s.

This wasn't always the case though. Midway through the 1966 World Cup, England manager Alf Ramsey decided to dispense with the use of wingers, in favour of wide midfielders who could offer more defensively, and were more disciplined in their positioning. His team, now dubbed the 'Wingless Wonders' would go on to lift the Jules Rimet trophy, inspiring a change in the tactical deployment of wide players.

With the 4-4-2 formation becoming widely used, the traditional winger role couldn't remain the same. Particularly in Italy, players were asked to track back more often, as well as tucking inward to help the midfield when in trouble defensively. The likes of Roberto Donadoni, Pavel Nedvěd and even Bastian Schweinsteiger (in his younger days) became known as 'wide midfielders' as opposed to wingers, and weren't required to make mazy, lung busting dribbles that many associate with wingers today.

But they were still integral parts of a team's offense, and remained recognised for their work in the final third. In the Premier League, the likes of Ryan Giggs, Steve McManaman and Robert Pires were seen as responsible for creating goalscoring chances, by getting to the byline and sending in inch-perfect crosses for strikers to finish.

Fast forward to today, and the position has regained its status as an extension of a team's attack, rather than their midfield. With the 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formation now favoured by most teams, it puts the onus back on the player to use their dribbling and speed to slalom past full-backs, without having to worry about their defensive work if an attack breaks down.

Moreover, the role has allowed for new variations of wingers to emerge in the game. Sure, there are still some traditional left-wingers out there, who are left-footed and hug the touchline in order to go around his marker. Arsenal youngster Bukayo Saka is certainly one example, as is Bayer Leverkusen's Leon Bailey.

But you'll find the majority of those who currently excel on the left-flank are right-footed, and tend to cut inside, making runs into the box to score or assist others. Their movement helps to create space for the left-back, whose own offensive evolution means that they now take up much of the crossing duties a traditional winger was once responsible for.

Who can be credited for this change? It's hard to say for sure, but certainly Ronaldinho's success in the position at Barcelona helped to popularise its use.

Primarily right-footed, his trickery and tendency to drift inward meant that Frank Rijkaard often deployed on him on the opposite flank, forcing opposition full-backs to move out of their comfort zone. It opened up space for Dutch defender Giovanni van Bronckhorst to push forward into oceans of space, where he could put in superb crosses.

Others followed, and by the 2006 World Cup, the likes of Joe Cole and Cristiano Ronaldo spending more time on the left-wing, cutting inside onto their preferred foot to cross for their teammates. For the latter, it was the start of a permanent change, as he increasingly played more minutes for Man Utd in this position, with Sir Alex Ferguson recognising himself that the traditional winger role had shifted.

And during their time at Bayern Munich, Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery would even frequently swap positions mid-game, which caused a lot of confusion for opposing backlines. Robben, a left-footer who played on the right, would sometimes drift to the other flank and play there for a spell, before switching back with his French teammate, who performed a similar role on the other side.

It just showed how the winger became a less formalised position, and instead became a free, artistic-like role that was changing on the fly, to suit a player's creative tendencies.

So when evaluating the best left-wingers of today's game, it's no surprise to see them treat the position as if they've been given a blank piece of paper. No manager can really instruct the likes of Ronaldo, Raheem Sterling or Sadio Mané to play the traditional role - they're now simply free to express themselves however they like. If they want to drift inward, they're often given license to - just as long as they maintain their place in the overall system.

Looking at the vast jump in goal tallies that these stars amass today, it's clear that their ability to move centrally on goal have helped them tremendously. That, and the skill of dribbling at full speed towards defenders, as well as relying on their left-back to look after the vacant flank, while they hunt for chances that they wouldn't normally get from being stuck out wide.

As for what the role will become in the future, it's really hard to say. There's no sign that the game will go back to the traditional route, as wingers increasingly become viewed as an important source for goals - sometimes more so than the centre-forward. Maybe the likes of Saka and Bailey will inspire a return to the out-and-out wide role, which was used so often in the past.

Or maybe the inverted left-winger will continue to reign supreme in the future. Just as unpredictable as Neymar's dribbling, the role will be shaped by the next generation of players, and how they want the role to look like going forward.